Strikeforce preview: Evangelista feels pressure in hometown event

http://mmajunkie.comSuccess is nothing new to Billy Evangelista. Fighting in the spotlight, on the other hand, will be a first.

The unbeaten lightweight will make his Strikeforce main-event debut Friday night in his hometown of Fresno, Calif. The fight against Mike Aina takes center stage on the premiere of the “Strikeforce Challengers series on Showtime, and affords Evangelista a pressurized chance to extend his perfect record in the cage.

“This is a great opportunity for me,” said Evangelista, who’s making his sixth start for Strikeforce. “A lot of people want me to win, especially because I’m the local boy. There is a lot of pressure being undefeated. I just try to ignore the pressure.”

While without a blemish on his record, the 28-year-old Evangelista (9-0) has faced a measure of adversity along the way. He posted split-decision wins over Nam Phan and Clint Coronel in 2008 and 2007, respectively. This past October at “Strikeforce: Payback,” Luke Caudillo dropped the California fighter twice in round one, but Evangelista picked himself up to post a unanimous-decision victory. Evangelista most recently fought in January for Palace Fighting Championship, where he earned a decision win over Harris Sarmiento.

In keeping with his approach for all fights, Evangelista will step into the cage uninformed about Aina.

“I don’t know anything about my opponent, but it doesn’t matter because I know he’s going to try to take me out like everyone else has, so it’ll be my job to react to whatever he does,” he said. “The reason why I do that is the pressure. I don’t want to put that pressure on myself. I kind of just go out there and feel the fighter and feel the fight. A fighter can change from one day to the next. Today, he’s a striker, and tomorrow he’s a grappler. If I just train for one counter move, and he changes on me, then my whole game plan is screwed up. I try to prepare for anything that’s thrown at me.”

Aina will primarily be throwing punches. Despite being trained by one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners in the world, B.J. Penn, Aina prefers to stand and trade. And, as Caudillo showed back in October, that’s a suitable strategy against Evangelista, whose strength is on the ground.

The 28-year-old Aina is fighting for the first time since August.

“I did take some time off,” he said. “We had a baby daughter, and I’m juggling a fulltime job. Training for a fight, there’s a lot expected of you. It’s a lot of wear and tear on not just your body but also your mind. My daughter is 1-year-old now and sleeping through the night, so it’s getting a little bit easier.”

What isn’t getting any easier is the grind of holding down a job under some unusual circumstances, working as a welder and fabricator.

“It’s a little rough; I work at 14,000 feet every day … the altitude change coming up to 14,000 feet and coming back down to sea level and having to train,” Aina said. “It takes an adjustment and a little getting used to it, but I’ve been doing it for about four or five years, so I’m coming around now.”

Aina (11-6-1) is still searching for a signature victory after more than five years in MMA. He nearly had it against Nick Diaz in September 2007, but he couldn’t quite manage the upset after pushing Diaz for two rounds.

“I kind of wore out as the fight went on,” admitted Aina, who lost a split decision. “Nick stands up in front of you and doesn’t give you a break. I definitely think I won the first two rounds, hands down, but that’s why you can’t leave things in the hands of the judges. That fight definitely tested my character and helped bring my game to the next level.”

Since the loss to Diaz, Aina has won two straight, his most recent being a first-round submission of Ismael Gonzalves.

A women’s bout between Sarah Kaufman and Miesha Tate is billed as the evening’s co-feature in a spot that was originally supposed to include Kim Couture. However, after Couture, who has fought only twice as a pro, backed out of the fight, the more seasoned Kaufman (8-0) stepped in to amp up the challenge for Tate.

“At first I was kind of surprised because it was a really big jump,” said Tate (5-1). “But then the more I thought about it, I was thinking that this was a win-win situation for me. She’s got an undefeated record, and now I’m stepping in there with the opportunity to be the first one to beat her. I’m going to go for it, and I think it’s going to be a great showing. I’m hoping that it’s ‘fight of the night.'”

Tate, 22, took some heat after expressing her disappointment about Couture pulling out of the bout. She blamed a rumored divorced for the reason Couture scrapped plans to fight, but she quickly offered an apology.

“I realized in my haste with everything and being frustrated that it wasn’t my place to talk about anyone’s personal business, whether it was right or wrong information,” she said. “It just wasn’t my place to say. So, I retracted it once I realized, ‘Oops, I made a mistake.’ [I] just apologized, and that pretty much was all I could do.”

With that dustup behind her, Tate enters the bout riding a four-fight winning streak, which includes first-round finishes in each of her Past three matches. She faces an even hotter fighter in Kaufman, who has finished all eight of her bouts by TKO, including a second-round destruction of Sara Schneider less than a month ago.

“I wouldn’t have taken this fight if I wasn’t able to showcase what I can do,” said the 23-year-old Kaufman. “Once I heard Kim was out, I talked to my coach and told him I really wanted this fight. I don’t feel over-trained or have any injuries. This is a big step for my career. I think it’s going to be a real exciting fight. It’s not going to be an easy fight, for sure.”

The winner of the match draws Shayna Baszler on June 19, as Strikeforce continues its commitment to giving female fighters a piece of the primetime action.

“There is more out there than just ‘Cyborg’ (Cristiane Santos) and Gina Carano,” Tate added. “They’ve been getting all the attention. We’re going to show Friday that we can be included with those two names.”

Fresno’s Save Mart Center is being configured for about 4,500 seats for the show. As of late last week, pre-fight ticket sales were north of 2,500. Showtime will carry five fights, beginning at 11 p.m. Eastern.

“The look and the feel of the Challenger series will be distinct and unique to itself,” said Showtime’s Ken Hershman. “There will be less of the bells and the whistles that we bring to the big shows that would be a bit overkill in some of the venues that we’re going to be in. But there will be the same high-quality standard we bring to every show.”

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